| Abstract: |
In a field study of 128 middle-managers in similar roles but in different
organizations within the UK public sector, we find that the quality of their
leadermember exchange (LMX) relationship with their immediate supervisor is
negatively related to the three dimensions of burnout. As hypothesized, LMX
and communication frequency are found to interact in the prediction of
emotional exhaustion. For low-quality LMX, the relationship between
communication frequency and emotional exhaustion is positive with an
increasingly steep upward slope as communication frequency increases. For
high-quality LMX, the relationship is not as expected, but is curvilinear with
an inverted U-shape. The findings support the importance of the social context
of the workplace for the development and persistence of burnout. The results
indicate that the quality of the relationship between employees and their
manager in combination with the nature and the frequency of their
interpersonal interactions are important factors for employee wellbeing.
Furthermore, the study contributes to the literature on LMX by providing
further support for the importance of LMX being dependent on how frequently
employees and managers interact for a new and very important outcome of
emotional exhaustion. |